Movie Websites Launches for June 26 - July 2

July 2nd, 2003

During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.

Bad Boys II
Current Content: Issue 3, which used to deal with the original Bad Boys, was added, again. But this time it has Bad Boys II info. Specifically, an interview with the costume designer Carol Rasmey (to be added later), the Finesse TV Spot, Jay-Z music video, six more images and two more wallpapers and Buddy Icons. Issue #4 was also added, and along with the standard 6 images and 2 wallpapers and Buddy Icons, this issue had production notes and two more TV Spots, (Time Out and We’re Going In.) Overall this site is coming together nicely.

Envy
Current Content: The site launched this week, but it’s set up to look like an ad for VaPOOrize. You can watch the Infomercial, or the Flash animated add, and there’s even a free giveaway marked coming soon. Of the usual suspects, only the movie trailer is there.

Freddy vs. Jason
Current Content: They’ve completely redone the format and the new format is a little too bright. Besides the new format there was some new content added, namely a timeline for both franchises and a tale of the tape.

Hidalgo
Current Content: This site just opened and so far there’s just a flash intro and the synopsis and trailer.

The Incredibles
Current Content: Just the logo and the teaser trailer. I’ve must have watched the trailer a hundred times and I still can’t figure out who’s doing the voices.

Johnny English
Current Content: Already a hit overseas, the North American version of the site just launched. And it’s an excellent site. There’s a section on the movie that has a lot information, trailer, cast and crew bios, synopsis, image gallery, production notes, etc. But most of the content is elsewhere. A section on MI-5 contains an interaction dossier, (including a very well done picture of John Malkovich as a naughty nurse), demonstration on some of the latest gadgets, surveillance footage of Johnny English, more than a dozen audio clips from the movie, 2 animated E-cards, a screensaver and 2 wallpapers. Then there are three games the plays as well. Combined with the good segues and sound FX, this site definitely earned the extravagant Weekly Website Awards.

The Last Samurai
Current Content: The third section is up, this time about warriors … sort of. Doesn’t seem to fit well with the rest of the site, and certainly isn’t as compelling as the last addition on the Samurai code.

Masked and Anonymous
Current Content: This movie has a huge cast of very famous people, and the site wisely focuses a lot of attention on them. There’s page after page of information: Cast and crew bios, production notes, two essays, etc. The amount of multimedia is limited to the trailer and a couple of songs. But the text is so well written that no more is needed.

Mona Lisa Smile
Current Content: Typical Sony placeholder site. Right now, it has just the trailer but that should change.

Sharkaslayer
Current Content: The movie is still more than a year away, so there’s very little on the site. Just the cast and the character they play. Although, the way they are introduced is well done.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Current Content: With just as few days before the movie opens, the site added a couple of new games and eight clips from the movie.

S.W.A.T.
Current Content: The flash site opened this week and there’s a lot to it. Trailer, synopsis, cast and crew bios (coming soon), games, music, Animated E-cards called Veepers (doesn’t work with Mozilla), screensavers, wallpaper, etc. There is also a lot of information on the real world S.W.A.T. forces; this included history, training and equipment. The music is quite good for this site, the clip is very long so it doesn’t get repetitive. However, the looping is not as well done as it could be. Transitions are also done well, and the sound effects add to the experience without overwhelming it.

Terminator 3
Current Content: This site has more multimedia content than any other I’ve reviewed. It was overwhelming at times. The information about the movie was well done; trailer, synopsis, cast and crew bios, production notes, it’s all there. But when in came to images and such, they could have trimmed it down. For instance, there are more than 200 wallpapers to choose from, more than 90% of them user created. It seemed to dilute the effectiveness of the official content. Which is too bad, cause this is an otherwise good site.